(A warning. If you click the above link, you will be confronted by a flashing fart button that will burn your corneas. And, you will have to ponder what exactly the aforementioned fart button reveals about Western culture. Such as it is.)

Prolly not. More likely that it’s just further demonstration that the blogosphere may be like high school (an assessment that I disagree with, by the way). Or in this case, grade school. Everybody keeping to their side of the playground.

But I know that this is not entirely accurate, either. I see Dad-Bloggers – Dutch, MetroDad - mixing it up all over the place. And I see you, mama-bloggers, ’round their parts – no pun here -all the time, too. So maybe the crickets I’m hearin’ on the Dad-Blogger Shout-Out has more to do with Post Assignment Exhaustion (not AGAIN, dude. Just finished that Mommy Blogger Post. And got my hands full with figuring out WTF one does for Father’s Day at home – more tools? A tie? – never mind in the blogosphere. Give it a rest.) than with anything else.Whatever the case, I don’t want to abandon the Dad-Blogger Handshake. But I will revise it, to make it more accessible. You don’t need to write a whole post. (Of course, if you do write a whole post, you will get mad props from me.) Just post a comment here, noting your favorite Dad-Blogger, with a line or two explaining what it is that you like about him. And if you really aren’t that well-acquainted with many Dad-Bloggers, go get yourself acquainted, as a special Father’s Day gesture.

To get you started, here are some of the Dad-Blogs (including Dad/Mom tag-team blogs) that I read and love:

Sweet Juniper(where Dutch keeps up the Dad-end of the wonderful tag-team parent blog that he maintains with the super-awesome and only sort of intimidating Wood)Mother-Woman(where P-Man occasionally contributes alongside the incomparable mama that is Mo-Wo)MetroDad (I somewhat ashamed to admit that I usually only lurk here)Laid-Off Dad(who is el Grande in la casa of the la fabulosa Moxie)Dad Gone Mad (whose first post for The Godfathers challenged the Kegel-toned dam that holds back the giggle-pee. You’ve been warned.)Cocktails with Kevin(who I only recently discovered, through Mom-101′s blogroll, and whose blog you must go visit now. You’ll thank me.) The Blogfathers(roaming street gang of Dad-Blogger thugs who have been known to spontaneously break into dance routines.) (Okay, I made that last bit up. I was thinking of Hot Cops.)

Go, read, laugh. And then come back and leave a note saying why that was such fun. And I’ll do a post listing the Dad-Blogs that you like, with lovely little quotations and credits to those who join in.)

Got that? Good.

Now, on the topics of marginalized fathers and street thugs and men who spontaneously break into dance, a story…

Zanta Is Comin’ To Town

The other day, WonderBaby and I took the subway downtown. (Mission: find funky onesie to replace famous Mutha Sucka tee, which only has about a week’s wear left in it. WonderBaby, she grows. And grows and grows and grows.)

The subway car that we rode in was almost entirely occupied by children between the ages of about 6 and 9. Boys and girls, accompanied by a small posse of teachers, out on a late-term excursion. The girls huddled in their seats and whispered and giggled; the boys jostled and poked and pretended that they were riding surfboards as the subway car rattled and lurched its way downtown. The teachers scolded the boys repeatedly while the girls continued to giggle.

We were just approaching Bathurst Station when one of the teachers, having had, presumably, her last teacherly nerve frayed to the breaking point, shouted down the aisle at the junior Kelly Slaters riding the transit waves:

What we did we say about CORRECT SUBWAY BEHAVIOUR this morning?!? What DID WE SAY?!?And then, just at that very moment, the subway doors opened and this character leapt onto the car:

That towel, I’m guessing, is in case he needs to do any inter-galactic hitchhiking…

And immediately flings himself to the floor and commences push-ups, like Jack Palance on meth, steroids and in flame shorts. Shouting I’m not Santa I’m not Santa!!!!

The children fall totally silent.

Dude jumps up.

I’m Zanta! With a Z! Santa is spelled with an S! Zanta with a Z! Z! Z! Yes yes yes.

He swings his towel over his head. Then, drops the towel and grabs the overhead handrail and begins swinging.

Zanta with a Z! Yes yes yes! Yes yes yes!

A little girl begins to cry, softly.

He drops to the floor. It’s OKAY! I’m not Santa! I’m Zanta! I’ve been doing push-ups LIKE THIS (falls into push-up position) WITH MY KNUCKLES since my wife took my daughter away and I’m gonna keep doing them ’til I get her back!!! Yes!

You got to photog Zanta? I’m so jealous. The one time I got on the train with him, Bumper started to cry and he wasn’t even doing his whole Jack Palance bit (she’s such a fuddy duddy sometimes). Sweet story HBM and my contribution to the Totally Manly Handshake (makes me giggle) is Chag at Cynical Dad (http://cynicaldad.blogspot.com/). He’s a rockin’ Dad to two little ones and somehow he manages to watch them, work and blog some really funny stuff. Sorry no time to make the link in this here comment because Bumper just pulled down all the shoes off the shoe rack so… gotta go!

That beats the pants off anything I saw on the NYC subway (and I rode it for five years).

That subway surfing you mentioned? Some grown men (I won’t name any names) still do it. I’ve also seen a grown man (one whose name I don’t know) do it on a bus, which stopped suddenly, sending him into an involuntary somersault.

And how unfair – WonderBaby goes to sleep at a time when you can’t catch a nap yourself but must take pictures of local color instead.

Now I really want to move to Canada, damnit. I LOVE the pic. Awesome. Too bad he didn’t have baby onesies.

As for the gender issues, for me, I see it in gender stereotyping – men must be strong, willful creatures – therefore any profession (i.e. nursing or mine music therapy) or activities (i.e BLOGGING) that don’t highlight that are seen as more feminine.

BALONEY. WHATEVER. However, I do think the bias is out there – curious to hear from SAHDS.

I think 90 percent of my commentors are ladies. I don’t think there is anything inhernetly unmasculine about blogging, but the whole community aspect (which HBM has taken to another level) and the reciprocation seems like something women are more comfortable with.

Also, I get so “precious and sentimental” sometimes I was obliged to turn my testicles over to the U.S. department of masculinity a few months back because I just wasn’t using them. Partly because I hate sports.

If you really want to get the men fired up, turn this into a competition. Ask your readers to vote for *sexiest dad*; *most loving father*; *dad with best parenting gear*; *funniest dad*, etc.

But you’d have to make it fair and allow no votes for Pierre, the Korean superdad.

I’ve been so Grade Seven about the whole daddy-blogger thing; if I stumble upon one by accident I click away hurriedly, thinking, “I can’t read you, you’re a boy!” Which is so absurd, because when I do read, I’m so moved by these dads’ unabashed absorption in their children (having been raised by a father who considered parenting to be a spectator sport).

There I was, formulating deep thoughts about daddy bloggers before I got stunned by Zanta- I seriously can’t remember what they were. Surprising and fun! Can’t wait to see the new onsie when you find it..

I had my own encounter with Zanta back in 2004 before he created his alter ego. It too was on the subway and he professed his love for his daughter, distaste for his ex and then sang the theme to “The Big Comfy Couch” as loud as possible. Damn I chalked him up as some drunk guy but it looks like I caught the tame version.

Don’t listen to that Dutch guy. He knows damn well that he’s my favorite Daddy blogger. Not only is he a ridiculously great writer but he’s also a fantastic father. I wish I were that mature when I was his age.

As for the whole daddy blogger phenomenon, I like the fact that there are so few of us. It feels more community-oriented, something that I feel is integral to the blogging (reading AND writing) experience. It’s also interesting due to the fact that it’s more of an extension of the fact that men are taking a more active role in parenting these days. And that, as always, is a good thing.

don’t forget this fine man:http://croutonboy.typepad.com/cheekys_hideaway/So this is Cheeky’s Dad, a hilarious guy and sweet dad.And thanks, Bubandpie, for giving my husband props: http://turnintostone.org/I think MetroDad is right, it’s kinda cool with the exclusivity these guys have. It seems like my husband ‘knows’ all the guys. I only wish I could know all the ladies.

Thanks all for the great suggestions. Some I already knew but had forgotten… (shame shame)

Krista – yes, I took that picture. I spent some time trying to surreptitiously sneak a photo of him, then realized that I was chicken (and freaking out the little girls near me who did NOT want to attract his attention). SO I just asked. And he was DELIGHTED to pose. And pose. And pose again.

Dutch, I’m so sorry for what happened to your testicles. If it helps, I laughed so hard at this news that WonderBaby stopped trying to remove my breasts with her gums to shoot me a WTF-is-so-funny look.

And, I may take your advice on calling for a competition. But instead of just taking votes (so passive) I think that I would call upon the men to dmeonstrate their manhood through feats of blogger strength. I’m just not sure what those feats would be. Once I figure it out, though, you know it’s gonna happen.

MetroDad, I will de-lurk immediately. But I was intimidated by your claim, on your last post, that Anna Wintour’s name appears on your social calendar. So intimidated that if I were a guy, my testicles would have totally retreated north. (In which case, Dutch and I would have to start a whole new blogging sub-genre of ball-challenged girly men…) But I’ll get over that. You’ll see me there soon.

I totally think Zanta should have a blog. Especially if he’s a dad. It would just be so entertaining with the muscle flexing and scaring small children.

I am glad you changed the criteria on this one a little (phew!) ’cause I don’t regularly read dad blogs. It’s kind of like what Bubandpie said — even though I’m not adverse to guys in real life, it’s like 7th grade in the blog world.

Not that I try to avoid male bloggers. Gah. Moving past awkward moment…

The two dad bloggers I am most familiar with are Dutch and Metro Dad. I don’t read either regularly, but I have enjoyed their posts. J.D.’s blurbs on Blogging Baby always make me chuckle, especially when he tries to get people all fired up. Love that. And I have to give props to MetroDad for this post of his, which made me split a gut.

Okay, Dave just walked in the door with our dinner. Yes, it’s after 10pm and we haven’t eaten yet. Everyone in this house is sick except the baby and well, that means dinner’s gone to pot. So I’ll come back once I’ve eaten and give shout-outs to my fave daddy bloggers, okay?

The dads I love to read are Odd Mix, Rude Cactus and occassionally Blurbomat (Heather Armstrong’s husband). I read Odd Mix and Rude Cactus on a regular basis and I really enjoy their blogs. I especially love how dedicated they both are to their families. It’s very very cool to read from their perspectives.

mr. nice guy got me through my pregnancy laughing so hard I almost lost my “snot cork” a couple of times. He’s part of the Blogfathers & just saw Prince for free!! Adventure Dad up in Sweden is pretty cool too.